Integrated circuits (ICs) are extensively, if not exclusively, used in most electronic devices of today. Such ICs may be digital, analog, or a combination of digital/analog technology. In all types of ICs, it is necessary to provide on-chip clock circuitry to generate and/or provide an on-chip clock.
Ring oscillators are commonly used to generate on-chip clocks in digital ICs. Ring oscillators are particularly attractive for such usage because they are fully self-contained in the IC and do not require the use of any Input/Output (I/O) pins of the IC. It is beneficial for various reasons to limit the number of I/O pins on an IC.
It is critical to perform production testing of the various functions and/or characteristics of an IC including a ring oscillator. However, in order to perform production testing of an IC that contains a ring oscillator, it is desirable to provide a means of bypassing the ring oscillator and introducing a test clock in its place. For example, a test procedure for testing digital ICs usually includes timing tests, such as tests to determine setup and hold time data. These tests typically require control of the test clock and thus cannot simply use the free-running ring oscillator.
In addition, since a ring oscillator is basically an analog circuit, it is desirable to provide a means to test the ring oscillator via I/O pins of the IC. In particular, the delay through the ring oscillator determines its frequency, and thus it is desirable to characterize this delay over process, temperature, and voltage.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an IC with a ring oscillator that can be bypassed.
It is also desirable to provide an IC with a ring oscillator that will allow the introduction of a test clock for digital testing.
It is further desirable to provide an IC with a ring oscillator in which the delay through the ring oscillator may be isolated and/or measured.